Don’t dismiss your experience when given an opportunity to expand your contribution. A self-employed career is never done in a bubble. And, the connections and colleagues you work with through the years are an education that can never be replicated in a classroom.
After being self-employed for over 24 years, I have worked with a lot of colleagues who specialize in different fields, accounting, sales, customer service, project management, web design, photography, copywriting, social media, and marketing.
Education never ends, and if you are open to it, there are opportunities to learn around every corner. Don’t know how to do something, but it needs to get done, what do we do? Simple. We research and learn. Likely the top best reason that the internet has an open environment to learn from each other.
Don’t be surprised that after you have managed to learn new skills, that you can begin to evolve your creative business to include them. Depending on the niche, educational institutional degree or diploma isn’t the all access ticket it used to be.
Simply start doing. Start creating and producing in the area that has your attention.
Been dabbling with creating patterns in Adobe Illustrator, then get that art on some material, showcase it on your portfolio, and talk about it in your marketing in newsletters, social media and networking events.
Want to evolve your creative studio so you can include writing and editing, then start writing and sharing it.
We all learn by doing. Traditional methods of education no longer have a place in our world. What we need to teach our kids and ourselves is to simply learn how to learn. Understand that being open to ideas and being okay with letting go of ‘established’ ones is how we grow and evolve.
So when you find yourself looking at an opportunity that you aren’t ‘qualified’ for, reach for it. You will surprise yourself as well as provide more value to your clients.
Written by Crystal Reynolds